Kenneth "Khaine" the Fox
Kenneth the Fox, 'also referred to by his nickname '"Khaine", is a mercenary, assassin and anti-hero, originating from an alternate version of Mobius were the death of Rotor Walrus at the hands of the Dark Egg Legion prompted the Freedom Fighters to create an expendable team designed to perform tasks that they did not wish to be a part of. Khaine has been considered highly dangerous by multiple groups across the planet, including the Freedom Fighters themselves, mainly through his fast and brutal style of fighting and his apparent enjoyment of inflicting death upon others. Biography Early Life Very little has been revealed about Khaine's early life before he became an assassin at age 15. Whilst incarcerated on Prison Island, psychologists have reported that Khaine gave multiple stories, each detailing almost vastly different origins as to how he became who he was. Khaine had also reportedly refused to reveal his true origin, as he wished to "keep people guessing" about what caused him to become who he had become. However, whilst some of the origin stories are vastly different from each other, several aspects of these stories remain consistent throughout. For example, Khaine has often described himself as being a "good kid", never willing to get into trouble or do anything to deliberately endanger lives. Another prominent feature of his stories is an abusive figure (popular examples used by him include a brother, a father and even a teacher). Finally, the stories all end with Khaine promptly murdering the abuser after "years" of torment (examples of this have included a single gunshot to the head, stabbing them to death, strangulation and even drowning the abuser in a public bathroom). However, many of these stories may indeed be false, Khaine has stated that he will reveal his true story on his deathbed. He has also stated that despite the use of multiple stories, one of those used is indeed his true origin. Criminal Career Rapid Rise in Notoriety After his apparent first kill at age 15, Khaine went on the run from the law. Over the following week, nothing was heard from him, as if he had simply disappeared. However, he eventually resurfaced when Station Square Police Department uncovered the bodies of two local drug dealers. One had been killed by multiple gunshot wounds to the chest, whilst the other had been killed by repeated blows with a blunt instrument. It was later revealed that Khaine had been a result of both of these murders after his DNA was found on the bodies, with the second dealer revealed to have been beaten to death with a crowbar. Less than 24 hours after these bodies were discovered and examined, reports of a supposed shootout happening in an abandoned warehouse in Downtown Westopolis came up. However, when the police eventually arrived at the scene, the shootout had long since ended, with twelve dead bodies left behind, including the body of local drug lord Orfeo Rodriguez. It was revealed that Khaine had been the one who had incited the shootout and caused the murders, responding to a call being put out for a hit of $5 million on his head by Stathis Elinas, a rival drug lord. Two days later, Stathis and his personal guard were found dead in their hotel rooms. Whilst no evidence has currently been found surrounding the murder of Elinas (other than fatal bullet wounds), it is believed that Khaine is responsible for these as well. It is commonly believed that the deaths of Rodriguez and Elinas allowed Khaine to gain great notoriety in the underworld. Over the following few years, his infamy began to rapidly rise and more and more crime lords came to acquire his services. His kill count also rapidly rose in conjunction with this, with no one safe from his ire. Criminals, detectives, vigilantes, rival assassins and even government officials all fell by his hand. Arrest and Incarceration Roughly over four years after Khaine's first kill, an anonymous hit was put out on the head of Ralph Stewart, then commander of G.U.N. The instructions were simple: The first one to kill Stewart would receive $80 million. Naturally, Khaine responded to this contract, deciding to retire should he complete the kill. The assassin eventually traced Stewart down to a ball in his mansion in Station Square, seemingly reaching him before anyone else. However, just before Khaine could complete the hit, the kill was promptly stolen from him by a rival assassin perched on a nearby rooftop. As the assassin took off, Khaine promptly gave chase, determined not to let the assassin get away. It was during this chase that the two caught the attention of the SSPD. Then, in a twist of fate, the rival managed to shake Khaine off after planting a bomb to construction scaffolding they were running across. Although escaping the blast relatively unscathed, he was quickly surrounded and arrested by the SSPD. Three weeks later, he was shipped off to Prison Island, having been handed five life sentences on multiple accounts of murder. This rose to six life sentences when he was found responsible for the deaths of two inmates during and altercation. The Black Claws Roughly a year after Khaine's incarceration on Prison Island, the Freedom Fighters of Knothole were the victims of a surprise attack by the Dark Egg Legion of Doctor Ivo Robotnik. Although, the Freedom fighters were able to beat back the attackers, their victory was hollow, as it has resulted in the death of close friend Rotor Walrus. In the wake of this loss, the council of Acorn, along with key members of the Freedom Fighters, came to an agreement to permanently put an end to the tyranny of Robotnik, although many were reluctant to get their hands dirty. However, it was during this time when King Max gave the Council an idea which they all ended up agreeing on. Instead of having to get their own hands dirty, they would simply get a group of others to get their hands dirty (or dirtier). Their first choice was to ask G.U.N for several Spec Op soldiers for them to use. However, this request was almost instantly shot down. therefore, the Council resorted to their second (and least desired option): recruit criminals. Princess Sally Acorn and Prince Elias Acorn soon traveled to Prison Island to find the deadliest killers within the prison walls. When the two royals asked the prison warden about this, one of the names he gave them was that of Khaine. The two scheduled interviews with each and every one of the killers that the warden had recommended to them. Eventually, they managed to be face to face with Khaine himself. Upon hearing their proposition, Khaine was almost instantly interested. He eventually agreed to their terms, but on one condition: he would pick his remaining team-mates. Despite attempts to dissuade him from this, Khaine remained steadfast. Realizing just how much they needed someone like Khaine on their team, The freedom Fighters eventually gave in to his demand, with Khaine eventually selecting just four other criminals by the end of the day. Christened by Khaine as "The Black Claws", this group was tasked with performing missions that would usually be too violent for the Freedom Fighters to perform, mainly involving the utter slaughter of various Dark Legion garrisons. Despite outside speculation that the five criminals had known each other for a long time, Khaine had never worked a single second with any of them beforehand and, in fact, grew to dislike his counterparts, as they grew to dislike each other, including Khaine, who had declared himself team leader. However, they group ultimately ended up pulling through, thanks to the iron will of Prince Elias. Their crusade against Robotnik ended up culminating in a climactic battle aboard the Death Egg, which saw the end of the dictator when a chaos emerald-fueled reactor exploded, exposing him to raw chaos energy and causing him to vaporize. With the war now over, the five criminals were placed back into incarceration, with a newly found respect for one another and a significantly shorter prison sentence. Despite this, though, Khaine still had four life sentences to his name. Escape Two weeks after the Black Claws' return to Prison Island, the facility came under attack from an unknown force, bombarding the island with shells from a battleship off the eastern side. Several small boats then reached the island shore. The attack ended up knocking out all power in the prison, prompting a full-scale riot and several attempted breakouts. Whilst the attack was eventually repelled and the prisoners returned to their cells, it was revealed that twenty seven prisoners had managed to escape, including the Black Claws. It is unknown as to the force that incited the attack, although theories have pointed to the group working with the Black Claws at some stage during their war against Robotnik. It has since been reported that the Claws went their separate ways. Now a free being, Khaine set about rebuilding himself as a powerhouse assassin, with his first act being the murder of the assassin who was responsible for his incarceration over a year prior, winning back what was left of the $80 million he had originally been vying for. Very soon, Khaine was one of the most talked about beings in the criminal underworld once again, now better and more brutal than ever. The amount of private contracts he received increased almost fourfold since before his imprisonment. However, as time went by, Khaine found it harder and harder to continue his job, as the police forces of the world had become better equipped and trained to handle assassins like him. This was not helped by the fact that several former Freedom Fighters had joined forces with the humans, including Sonic the Hedgehog, who acted as a Rapid Response Officer for the SSPD. Realizing that this world was no longer the place for someone like him anymore, Khaine decided to continue his assassin work "elsewhere", opting to leave his world behind. Knowing that the Freedom Fighters had possessed the means to travel to other dimensions, he proceeded to set his plan into action. The first step involved the kidnapping of Miles "Tails" Prower, as Khaine knew he didn't possess the right level of technical knowledge to allow for inter-dimensional travel. From there, Khaine took his hostage to the old Freedom Fighters HQ in Knothole, now mostly decommissioned as a tourist attraction. Fortunately for him, however, the dimensional gates were still in place, albeit in dis-repair. Once there, he ordered Tails, at gunpoint, to reactivate the portal, which the fox begrudgingly accepted. However, as the gateway slowly became active once again, the Mobotropolis Police Department became aware of the crisis on their hands, sending dozens of armed officers to Knothole, with Sonic joining them upon hearing that his friend was in trouble. The officers reached the old HQ just as Tails finished bringing the portal back online. As promised, Khaine allowed the young fox to live. But just to allow himself to escape, he gave him a nasty surprise. Just a Sonic ran into the gateway room, Khaine promptly shot Tails in the spine with a 9mm pistol, paralyzing him from the waist down. This distracted Sonic long enough to allow Khaine to plant an explosive charge to the portal, and allowing him to detonate it upon passing through, preventing anyone from following him. A mere five days after his disappearance, the Zone Police put out a warranty for Khaine's arrest. It is unknown as to the exact whereabouts of Khaine, also it is commonly believed that he is constantly jumping between worlds causing as much chaos as his heart desires. Skills and Abilities Khaine possesses no unique powers or a connection to the chaos emeralds. However, he has tried to counteract this through the master of multiple weapons and martial arts. He has even taken his fighting knowledge to another level, going so far as to create his own fighting style, dubbed "The Way of the Falling Sledgehammer", consisting of slow, yet intensely powerful strikes. Unlike most other assassins of his calibre, Khaine prefers to just kill his target and go instead of savoring the kill, claiming that "I do enough savoring as it is". His preferred weapons of choice are a pair of straight-edge katanas and an M16 assault rifle Khaine has also shown to carry a genius-level intellect when it comes to carrying out a contract and completing a kill. He will often go through the different attributes carried by a target and will attempt to calculate how long it would take him to defeat them. But by far, one of the most potent weapons in Khaine's arsenal is his silver tongue. When caught in a fight where his odds aren't particularly good, he will often attempt to swing things in his favor by either chatting politely to the target or by throwing underhand insults at them, insulting something close to them. In both cases, these are designed to dtsract the target, thus allowing for the kill to be completed. On some occasions, when the target has been a female, he has often gone as far as to flirt with them. However, despite his physical and mental prowess, Khaine is yet to reach his peak and currently possesses several weaknesses. Chief among these is his overall lack of strength. Due to an unusually high metabolism, Khaine has been unable to properly develop muscles, thus leaving him significantly physically under-powered against more powerful foes, although he has trained to try and minimize this.